Jacob Brønnum Scavenius Estrup, (16 April 1825 – 24 December 1913), was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

politician, member of the

Højre Højre (, ''Right'') was the name of two Danish political parties of Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The c ...

party. He was

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 1865 to 1869 in the Cabinet of Frijs and Council President as well as

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1875 to 1894 as the leader of the '' Estrup Cabinet''. At 23 years, he was the longest sitting Danish minister ever. From a Danish historical perspective, he is perhaps most famous (or infamous) for the so-called provisional time (''provisorietiden'') from 1885-1894. After a huge defeat in the 1884 ''

Folketinget The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands a ...

'' parliamentary election, in which the Højre party only gained 19 out of 102 seats, he simply refused to resign as Head of Government. (The title "''konseilspresident''" has later been changed to "''statsminister''" but both titles are equivalent to

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

) He then wasn't able to get parliamentary support for the imperative annual Financial Laws, he instead managed to bring about King

Christian IX Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein ...

's support for ''Provisional Financial Laws''. This included support from the so-called ''Landstinget'' as well. The ''Landstinget'' was a smaller assembly of politicians, of which half of its members were chosen by the Monarch. A reason to why the Monarch agreed to nine such annual provisional laws, the King and Estrup both believed in the building of the Copenhagen defense wall (''Københavns befæstning'') at the time known as "''Vestencienten''" built between 1888-92.

Biography

Estrup was son of the landowner and headmaster at

Sorø Academy Sorø Academy (Danish, ''Sorø Akademi'') is a boarding school and gymnasium located in the small town of Sorø, Denmark. It traces its history back to the 12th century when Bishop Absalon founded a monastery at the site, which was confiscated by ...

Hector Frederik Janson Estrup (1794–1846) and Jacobine Scavenius (1800-1829), daughter of Jacob Brønnum Scavenius (1749–1820). He inherited the estate ''Kongsdal'' in

Holbæk Holbæk () is a town in Denmark and the seat of Holbæk municipality with a population of 29,608 (1 January 2022).amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

in 1846. In 1852 he also bought the estate Skaføgård in

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

and

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

, which had been ceded to an English consortium in 1861. He expanded the railroads in

Vendsyssel Vendsyssel () is the northernmost traditional district of Denmark and of Jutland. Being divided from mainland Jutland by the Limfjord, it is technically a part of the North Jutlandic Island, but the name often used informally for the entire island. ...

and built new lines from

Skanderborg Skanderborg is a town in Skanderborg municipality, Denmark. It is situated on the north and north eastern brinks of Skanderborg Lake and there are several smaller ponds and bodies of water within the city itself, like Lillesø, Sortesø, Døj S� ...

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Danish town with a population of 49,747 (1 January 2022).Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

, earning him the nickname "Railway Minister". He also built up the harbour in Esbjerg, which turned into an important center for exports. In 1869 he was forced to step down from his post because of health problems. In 1875 Estrup was able to replace

Christen Andreas Fonnesbech Christen Andreas Fonnesbech (7 July 1817 – 17 May 1880) was a Danish lawyer, landowner and politician. He was Council President of Denmark from 1874 to 1875. Biography Fonnesbech was born in Copenhagen, where his father was a dressmaker. H ...

as Council President. Estrup himself also took the post as

, perhaps the most important post as Denmark was economically worn down after the

Second War of Schleswig The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

. In 1877 Estrup was unable to secure support for his

budget bill A government budget is a document prepared by the government and/or other political entity presenting its anticipated tax revenues (Inheritance tax, income tax, corporation tax, import taxes) and proposed spending/expenditure (Healthcare, Educat ...

, as demanded by the

Danish Constitution The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Riges Grundlov), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution ( da, Grundloven, fo, Grundlógin, kl, Tunngaviusumik inatsit), is the c ...

, but chose instead to issue it as a

provisional law A provisional law (Norwegian: ''provisorisk anordning'') is an ordinance passed by the Norwegian cabinet in agreement with article 17 of the Norwegian constitution. The article declares that "the King may issue and repeal ordinances relating to com ...

. This happened repeatedly in the years 1885 to 1894, the so-called provisional period (''provisorietid''). Among others he was opposed by the Venstre leaders

Christen Berg Christen Poulsen Berg (18 December 1829 – 28 November 1891) was a Danish liberal politician and editor. Biography Christen Berg was born at Fjaltring parish in Lemvig Municipality, Denmark to a farm family of North Jutland. In 1848 he beg ...

and

Viggo Hørup Viggo Lauritz Bentheim Hørup (22 May 1841 – 15 February 1902) was a Danish politician, journalist and agitator. He was the father of Ellen Hørup (1871-1953). He was one of the most influential politicians of the Danish non-Socialist lef ...

. When an assassination attempt failed on 21 October 1885, Estrup responded by passing various laws restricting the press, restricting the right to own arms, and broadening the powers of the police. In 1894, Venstre and Estrup's

cooperated to pass a budget bill, and Estrup resigned. He would not hold any future offices as a minister but retained significant influence in the following governments formed by Højre.

Personal life

He was decorated with the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant ( da, Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional ...

in 1878 with conferring rank of Grand Cross Knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

and Dannebrogsmand. He was married in 1857 to Regitze Holsten-Charisius (1831-1896), daughter of Adam Christopher Holsten-Charisius. They were the parents of six children. Estrup died on Christmas Eve 1913 in Kongsdal and was buried at Undløse Church.

References

Other sources

Biography
- From ''Museums in Copenhagen''.

- From the ''Danish Biographical Lexicon'', scanned by

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg ( sv, Projekt Runeberg) is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded ...

.
Contemporary drawing
showing the assassination attempt on Estrup. Original: Woodcut,

Illustreret Tidende ''Illustreret Tidende'' was a Danish weekly illustrated magazine published from 1859 to 1924 in Denmark with international news, literature and entertainment content. History and profile ''Illustreret Tidende'' was founded by Otto Herman Delbanc ...

25 October 1885. {{DEFAULTSORT:Estrup, Jacob Bronnum Scavenius 1825 births 1913 deaths Danish Finance Ministers Danish Interior Ministers Prime Ministers of Denmark Members of the Folketing Members of the Landsting (Denmark) 19th-century Danish politicians Members of the Rigsrådet (1855-1866) Scavenius family Estrup family